ABC Family has always been home to some of my favourite shows, even though they are geared towards teenagers. Recently ABC Family came out with a show called “The Fosters”. If like me you assumed this TV show was going to be about foster children and the bouncing from houses you are only half right. “Foster” happens to be the last name of the family that take in the two foster kids. When I first saw the previews for the show I was upset by what was being portrayed. It showed a foster child that was just coming out of a juvenile detention center after bouncing from house to house unable to find a permanent place to call home. I decide to watch the show, even after I disliked what was being shown in the commercials. “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”… right?
I was surprised to find that my original theories about the show have been put to rest. The show was indeed about a girl that bounces from foster house to foster house. However, when you watch the show you realize that all she wants is a house to be permanent and become a home and a family for her and her younger brother. Although she was in a juvenile detention center you learn that it was because she was protecting her brother. The Fosters, are the family that take in Callie and her brother, Jude. The Fosters want to be the last family that Callie and Jude stay with until they find a permanent home. They treat them as if they are part of the family, they have them in family photos and help them succeed academically. You don’t know where the show is going to go, it keeps bringing up this dark past that Callie has but shows an intensity of love that makes you wish/hope that the Fosters actually adopt Callie and Jude much like they did two of their other children.
Prior to watching the show and while still waiting for the season to unfold I connected with it. You see, I am an adopted child. I didn’t bounce from house to house like Callie & Jude. However, it took quite a few years for my sister and I to be adopted, do I relate with them. Prominent in the show is a stereotype that foster children are outsiders, trying to find a place to fit in, and often have some form of pent up anger. Callie gets thrown in the detention center because she she did some things while protecting Jude. Being in a foreign home, I can honestly say that I would have and did do anything I could to protect myself and my younger sister.
I am interested to see how the season is going to unfold, I have an idea of how I would like it to unfold. I don’t know if being adopted changes my view or if even those that were raised by their natural parents feel the same, but if you have seen the show I want to know your opinion on it.
Life as we THINK we know it 